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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25425604">Obliviousness, thy name is Katherine</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiarcheo/pseuds/kiarcheo'>kiarcheo</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Six - Marlow/Moss</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F, Fluff, Getting Together, Minor Catherine of Aragon/Anne Boleyn, Parrward, Pre-Relationship, as if I ever write anything else, as in just mentioned, oblivious Katherine Howard</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 05:42:31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,570</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25425604</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiarcheo/pseuds/kiarcheo</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Kat is oblivious and Anna is a good friend.</p>
<p>Once again inspired by an incorrect quote that snowballed into this...maybe I should start a series.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Anne of Cleves &amp; Katherine Howard, Katherine Howard &amp; Catherine Parr, Katherine Howard/Catherine Parr</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>81</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Obliviousness, thy name is Katherine</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>‘What’s taking them so long?’ Kat wonders aloud as she and Anna are waiting for Anne and Catherine to return with their drinks.</p>
<p>‘Take a guess.’ Kat just looks at Anna confused. ‘They are flirting.’ She explains, rolling her eyes.</p>
<p>‘What?’</p>
<p>‘Look at how Anne is hanging on her every word?’ Kat turns around and sees her cousin leaning against the counter, listening attentively to Catherine…Four drinks sitting in front of them unattended, waiting to be picked up. ‘I bet that Catherine is just telling her about her day because Anne asked about it.’</p>
<p>‘So what?’ Kat frowns slightly. ‘Cathy always asks me about my day.’</p>
<p>‘Yeah, and how often does she ask about ours?’</p>
<p>----</p>
<p>Anna will admit that Cathy is not the suavest flirter. Modesty aside, that’s herself. Cathy does it more in a cute, sometimes fumbly, way. But the problem is not how she flirts. It’s that the recipient of her flirting is totally oblivious. Anna loves her best friend, but she is completely clueless. More than once she or Anne, and a couple of times even Catherine, had to step in because a guy had mistaken Kat’s friendly attitude with a positive reaction to his flirting. And she has lost count of the times she had seen Kat leaving guys and girls dumbfounded when their flirting would go over her head, she’d reply something nice and then just turn around and leave. The most recent one had been a guy offering to buy her a drink. Kat had politely told him that she already had one, raising the glass in her hand, thanked him and then turned to Anna, carrying on the conversation they were having while starting to move towards their table. When Anna, out of earshot, had inquired whether she had found him cute or not, Kat had looked at her in confusion. ‘Who?’</p>
<p>It's not that she is dumb, far from it, she just always assumes friendship rather than romantic intentions and often it’s quite endearing if not downright funny.</p>
<p>Like that time that Kat had all but collapsed next to Cathy, put her head on her shoulder and sighed, ‘Can someone take me out, please? I’ll pay them.’ Cathy had immediately replied, ‘I’ll gladly do it for free.’ Without even raising her head Kat had gone, ‘I don’t know if I should be happy that you’re such a good friend who wants to help me out,’ Anna had seen Cathy ready to say something before Kat had continued, ‘Or worried that you jumped at the chance to kill me?’ Anna remembers Cathy’s impression of a fish, opening and closing her mouth trying to find…any word, really. So yeah, it could be funny…although probably not for poor Cathy, so Anna decides that maybe it’s time she gives Cathy a hand and Kat a little push.</p>
<p>So next time they are out together she makes sure to complain again about Anne and Catherine. To be fair they <em>are</em> constantly bickering – which is their preferred way of flirting – so it’s easy to find an excuse. And then she proceeds to point out and list all the ‘coupley’ things they do.</p>
<p>‘I still don’t get it.’ Kat’s brows are furrowed. ‘Me and Cathy do things like that all the time.’</p>
<p>Anna merely gives her a long, level look.</p>
<p>----</p>
<p>‘What?’ Cathy asks, looking fondly at Kat, who is giggling while looking at her phone.</p>
<p>‘Nothing, was doing this quiz Anne sent me,’ Kat turns her phone to show Cathy. ‘What vegetable are you?’</p>
<p>‘What did you get? A cutecumber?’</p>
<p>‘No, actually I got– wait, did you just flirt with me?’</p>
<p>‘Have been for the past year, but thanks for noticing.’ She smiles, no trace of bitterness in her voice, only affectionate teasing.</p>
<p>Kat plops down. Face in her hands she groans out, ‘So stupid’.</p>
<p>‘You’re not.’ Cathy swallows. ‘I can stop if it makes you uncomfortable.’</p>
<p>‘It’s not that.’ Kat shakes her head. ‘I just…didn’t know?’ she sounds unsure of herself. She falls silent and Cathy waits for her because she knows she is collecting her thoughts.</p>
<p>‘Every time we ate alone?’</p>
<p>Cathy nods and she knows from Kat’s intake of breath that she has seen it.</p>
<p><em>‘</em>When you asked me for a walk at the park…or around the lake…all those time…?’</p>
<p>‘Uh uh,’ Cathy smiles remembering them. They had been nice even if she knew that Kat hadn’t realised she had been trying to test the waters and ask her out. They had talked, and laughed, and sometimes they had gotten snacks to eat while strolling around. She cherishes those memories.</p>
<p>‘I am so sorry. I never realised-’</p>
<p>‘Yeah, I noticed.’ She interrupts her with a soft laugh. The last thing she wants is for Kat to feel guilty or to think she is upset. ‘But you kept saying yes to my invites, so I figured out you didn’t mind hanging out with me too much anyway.’  </p>
<p>‘I love spending time with you!’</p>
<p>‘And I never got a talk from Anne or Anna…’ Not just to tell her to leave Kat alone because she was making her uncomfortable…Cathy would hope that with her being their friend too, she’d get the courtesy of being spared further embarrassment and being told if she had absolutely zero chances and Kat would never be interested (if she ever emerged from her obliviousness).</p>
<p>‘Anna.’ Kat looks like she has a sudden realisation. ‘You know, it’s not you. I just don’t realise these things. In general. The other day Anna was complaining about Catherine and Anne. And she pointed stuff out. Like them doing “couple things” and…’ She groans out a laugh at herself. ‘I told her that I still couldn’t see it.  Because we would do them too. We as me and you,’ she gestures to herself and Cathy. ‘She just gave me a look. That I now realise was saying “you absolutely dumbass” probably.’</p>
<p>‘I have seen people flirting with you,’ Too many times for her liking, she wishes she hadn’t. ‘And you completely missing it.’ This part she did not mind too much. ‘I don’t know why I thought that if I were the one flirting, it would be any different.’ Cathy admits. That was another reason why she would get disappointed (of course, she is only human) but never too upset. She knows Kat and she knows that she genuinely wasn’t getting it. Cathy never thought for a minute that Kat was ignoring it on purpose.</p>
<p>‘I just…always think…friendship, you know. Eating out? Going to the cinema? I do it all the time with Anna. Or Catherine. Or Jane. And they are my friends. Never gave it a second thought. So if someone else asks? Why should I think that they don’t want to be friends but something more? Why if someone is nice then they must want something more? Aren’t people nice to their friends?’</p>
<p>‘Hey, you’re right, it’s totally fine.’ Cathy covers her hand, but she keeps her touch light so that if Kat doesn’t appreciate the contact she can easily slip away. She starts again once she thinks Kat’s rant is over. ‘I love being your friend. Would I love to try and be something more? Sure. But if you don’t want anything more than friendship with me? I’ll count myself lucky and be the best friend that I can be for the rest of my life.’ She sends her a reassuring smile.</p>
<p>‘I just never thought about it.’</p>
<p>Her smile slips a bit, but Cathy nods. She meant her words. She might need some time to get over it, but it’s fine. She will be damned before she loses Kat’s friendship over this.</p>
<p>‘I mean, why would you even be interested in me?’ Kat continues, sounding genuinely puzzled.</p>
<p>‘Why wouldn't I???’</p>
<p>They look at each other.</p>
<p>‘So you actually want to go on a date with me?’ Kat asks for clarification, still sounding quite surprised.</p>
<p>‘One that you know it’s actually a date? Absolutely. If that’s something you’d also like?’ Cathy hesitates. ‘I don’t want you to feel like you have to say yes just because I told you I was flirting with you.’</p>
<p>‘You know that I had other people flirting with me, right?’ Kat pauses. ‘That sounded different in my head. I mean telling me.’</p>
<p>Cathy just looks at her, confusion clear on her face.</p>
<p>‘Like,’ Kat tries to explain. ‘Anna telling me that someone was hitting on me. Or people saying it to my face…that they were trying to flirt.’ Kat trails off, frowning slightly. She knows that she isn’t the quickest on the uptake, but is she really that bad as she just made it sound?</p>
<p>‘Yeah.’</p>
<p>Cathy’s deadpan, completely unenthusiastic, response brings her back to the point. ‘And how many times did I go on a date because they told me that they were flirting with me?’</p>
<p>‘None?’ As far as Cathy knows, at least.</p>
<p>‘Exactly. So do you know what this mean?’ Kat doesn’t wait for an answer. ‘That if I say yes to a date with you it’s because I actually want to.’</p>
<p>Kat has never seen Cathy beaming as brightly as she is. ‘I think I owe Anna several drinks.’ She says, barely containing a giggle.</p>
<p>Kat gives a little moan, suddenly realising something. ‘You know she is never going to let us live it down, right?’</p>
<p> </p>
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